Travel Guide Appleton Estate

Nestled in the fertile Nassau Valley, this rum distillery is the most famous in Jamaica and the most visited. When the train was still running on the island, it served the rum factory from Montego Bay. Appleton is a plantation that has been in operation for two and a half centuries, probably the oldest on the island. As early as 1749, sugar was being manufactured and in 1755, the plantation appeared for the first time on maps under the name of Dickinson, named after the descendants of one of the first English settlers on the island, who participated in the capture of the island and the defeat of the Spanish. The plantation was sold in 1871 to become the most important production center of the Wray and Nephew group. On the property, we will discover an old cane press, operated by a donkey, which testifies to the working methods of another time. Just enough time for the tourists to immortalize the donkey and you will be taken to the heart of the huge factory, the distillery with the latest equipment. It can be partially visited thanks to small metal footbridges built around the tanks. You will also visit the warehouse where the rum is aged, before ending the visit with the inevitable tasting and a detour to the store. The 4,600 ha property employs 950 people. The sugar cane that grows on about 1,500 ha produces 16,000 tons of sugar and 10 million liters of rum per year. Long reserved for the domestic market, Appleton rum is now sold in more than sixty countries, and can be found in every supermarket in Jamaica